


The First Errand

by Vaughanie



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Edward Elric Swears, Gen, Grocery Shopping, Kid Fic, Parental Roy Mustang, Parental Royed - Freeform, Swearing, Young Edward Elric, a mention of gun violence but it's just stupid kid questions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24522841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaughanie/pseuds/Vaughanie
Summary: Lost in the big city, five-year-old Ed gets help from a kind stranger.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 126





	The First Errand

**Author's Note:**

> It's dumb, light reading. That's all I've gotta say. Haven't written anything in a year.

In neighborhoods on the outskirts of Central City, parents send their small children to run errands without any supervision. Through this experience, children become independent and responsible while learning that ideally, members of the community can be called upon for help at any time. The Elric Family spent the summer season of 1904 house-sitting for friends in Central. It was during their stay that Edward Elric was sent out on his first errand.

“Sweetheart? I need you to look at me when I’m speaking to you.”

Five-year-old Edward watched as a turquoise butterfly fluttered down the quiet Central City street and then zig-zagged its way to the sunny stone stoop upon which he stood. His mother, who was squatting down in the open doorway of their small duplex apartment building, snapped her fingers twice, trying to regain his attention. With the sound, Ed quickly turned, his pudgy arms swinging slightly as he met the eyes of his concerned mother.

His attention quickly was drawn elsewhere however. Baby Alphonse was suffering from a cold, and he stood directly behind their mother, clutching her skirt with one hand and furiously wiping his runny red nose with the other.

Trisha slightly adjusted the blue bucket hat on top of Ed’s head before taking his hands in hers.

“Ed, you’re going to walk three blocks that way and then three blocks to the left and then head down the hill. It’s the store with the red banner on the front. Can you remember that? Six blocks and then three to the left. Red banner. Say it with me. Six blocks and then three to the left. Red banner. ”

“Three blocks and then three to the left,” Ed repeated, “Red banner.”

His mother nodded her head with approval. “Chicken broth, bok choy, and carrots, all for the soup. Put it in your backpack, alright? If you get lost, a paper with our address on it is in there as well.”

Ed shook his head. “I won’t get lost, Mommy.”

Trisha lovingly rubbed Edward’s little hands with her thumbs, smiling as she praised him. “Oh, you’re such a big, brave boy! You know, this is going to make your little brother feel so much better...”

With those words, she brought Edward into a hug, kissing the top of his fabric hat warmed by the afternoon sun. “I love you,” she whispered. “Stay safe.”

Edward was the first to pull away, wrapping his hands around the straps of his backpack as he turned and stepped off of the front stoop. With a smile and a wave goodbye, he disappeared behind rows of parked cars. He was finally on his way.

Left! Left! Left, right, left!

Edward was on a mission, and he was going to do things exactly as he was told. As he marched down the sidewalk, apartment buildings quickly turned to apartments with shops on their first floors. Clothing stores with perfect places to play hide and seek, flower shops with roses to stick your nose into, bakeries making freshly baked bread that would make your tummy warm and full.

No!

He had three things to buy, and three things only.

“Chicken, choy, carrots!” Ed sang, tilting his head to and fro as he began to skip. “Chicken, choy, carrots! Chicken, choy-”

The quiet air was suddenly broken by a jaunty tune. They didn’t have trucks in Resembool, and his family had only been in Central City for three weeks, but he was already familiar with the sound, and he knew what it meant.

Ice cream!

Edward’s golden eyes went wide as saucers as the white ice cream truck drove through the intersection before him, moving to the right. He turned the corner and skipped after it, singing a new song.

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Rah! Rah! Rah!”

Three times, he jumped into a puddle that had remained after last night’s rain. Skipping along, his yellow rubber boots made an out of tempo, but still satisfying, squeaking sound as he continued to sing.

“Tuesdays, Mondays, we all scream for sundaes. Sis-boom-bah! Boola-boola, sarsaparoolla! You've got chocolate? We'll take vanoola! I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Rah! Rah! Rah!”

A car suddenly zoomed past Ed, causing him to stumble back in fright. Pinwheeling his arms did little help, and he fell flat on his bottom on the busy street corner.

“Oof!”

Four lanes of cars, postmen on bicycles, the rumbling of the trolley as it rolled by, people’s shoes as they hurried past… It all made Ed’s head spin and go dizzy-wizzy-wizzy. He definitely wasn’t supposed to be here. His mother had taken him to the store many times before, and they had never passed through a place as busy as this. Or as scary. This wasn’t good- this wasn’t good at all. And to make matters worse, his mommy wasn’t around to make things better, and mommy always made things better!

At his spot on the ground, Edward’s vision blurred, and his eyes began to sting. Feeling a whimper swelling at the back of his throat, Ed balled his little hands into fits and roughly rubbed tears from his eyes. It was as he wiped wet snot from his nose that a pair of shiny black boots stopped directly before him. With a sniffle, Ed slowly looked upward, looking at the man’s dark pants and his crisp, white collared shirt with a long, black tie. Dark eyes peered out from beneath a shock of black hair.

The young man’s expression was soft. He carefully squatted down before Ed, getting down to his level.

"Hey there, little guy…" the man gently sang.

The greeting ignited a fire inside of Edward- an explosion of fury. Ed leapt to his feet and shook a clenched fist at the stranger as he yelled in a shrill voice. "Who are you calling smaller than a piece of rice?!”

"You,” the young man said curtly, “And I think the word you’re looking for is ‘grain’."

"You take that back, motherfucker!" Ed snapped.

The stranger muttered in disbelief. "Holy shit…”

Ed quickly turned around, bent over a bit, and shook his butt at the man’s face, the empty backpack on his back moving to and fo. “That’s right!” Ed sang, “Kiss my ass, motherfucker!”

“What the actual fuck, I was just gonna to ask if you were lost! Do you need help finding your parents or something?"

Ed spun back around, puffed out his chest, and triumphantly placed his hands on his hips. “I’m on a mission!” he pronounced. His posture quickly crumbled, along with his confidence. “But I think I’m lost, and I need help crossing the street.”

Realization touched the raven-haired stranger. “Oh, I see! You’re running your first errand, aren’t you?”

Edward nodded his head enthusiastically. “That’s right!”

The stranger stood and quickly turned, beginning to walk away with his hands tucked into his pockets. “Well best of luck to you...”

“WHA?!”

The fic would be short, even for a one-shot, if the young man walked off now. He turned back to Ed with a light chuckle of amusement.

How fucking dare he!

“I was kidding,” the young man laughed, “I was kidding! I can help you out. Where were you trying to go?”

“To the store with the red banner in the front."

The young man rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and made a face. The sort of face adults make when they don’t know how to answer something, and are sorry about it.

“Oof… I’ve been out of town for a while, so I’m not as familiar with the shops and things as I used to be...”

Edward crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You’re fucking useless,” he huffed.

“Well what was it that were you trying to buy?”

“Ummm…”

“You forgot, huh?”

“No I didn’t! I’m not useless like you! I’m ‘sposed to buy stuff to cook with! My mom is making soup for my little brother. He has a cold.”

“Well I’m sorry to hear that. I'm sure the food you buy will help him get better soon."

Edward nodded his head furiously. It was true. His quest was a noble one. The food would make his little brother strong again, and when that happened, they could play tag and hide and seek together again.

"I have a friend," the young man continued, "She works at a shop just down the street that sells practically everything in it. I don't think it was the one your mom was talking about, but I could take you there if you want.”

“Sure.”

The young man stepped away, moving closer toward the curb. Edward followed closely after him and stopped at his side. He reached up and wrapped his little fingers around the man’s thumb.

“Lead the way,” Ed said cheerily.

“You know it’s weird to hold a stranger's hands, right?”

“I’m Ed,” Ed said in a matter of fact way.

“And I’m Roy,” Roy replied.

“I know your name, and you know my name, so we aren’t strangers anymore. Aren’t we?”

Roy shrugged his shoulders. “I guess?”

Traffic stopped, and Roy led Edward across the street. It was when they got to the other side of the street that Edward decided to break the ice. “You live here?” he asked.

“Sometimes,” Roy replied.

Continuing to walk forward, Edward let go of Roy’s thumb, instead opting to hold onto the side of his hand. It was easier to hold onto. He tilted his head far back and attempted to look up at Roy’s face.

“Why is your head so big?” Ed questioned.

This was obviously a topic that had never been brought to Roy’s attention. “It’s big?”

“Yeah. And it’s round. Like a circle.”

Roy shrugged his shoulders. “Well I don’t know why,” he answered honestly. “Maybe I have a big head because I’m smart, and I have a big brain.”

“I doubt that. I want boots like your boots. Can I have your boots after you die?”

“The fuck?”

“So that’s a no?”

“Buy your own.”

“You’re a soldier, right? You shoot people with guns?”

“In training. And sorta.”

Letting go of Roy’s hand, Edward dramatically leapt forward, giggling as he stomped his feet on the ground. “That answers nothing, doo-doo head!”

“Doo-doo head?”

“Yep!” Ed chirped. He ran forward and took hold of Roy’s hand once more. “Where I’m from, people have guns, but it’s ‘cause of wolves. We got a lotta sheeps. We don’t have sheeps, but there are lots of sheeps around. We have brown sheeps, and black sheeps, and white sheeps. Mostly white sheeps. My brother and I ride on top of Mr. Pearsons’ sheeps a lot.”

“They really let you do that?”

“What?”

“The sheep let you ride on top of them?”

Edward looked off into the distance, eyes glazing over for a moment as he remembered the trauma of riding those beasts. Of grabbing its wool coat in your hands and holding on for dear life, of being flung off, of flying through the air, of eating the dirt. Of the blood… Something chiseling away at the human will to fight and continue on.

“No. They hate it,” Ed answered bluntly. “You kill anybody?”

Roy let out a soft, tired sigh. “No, but you could be my first...”

A wide, mischievous smile spread across Edward’s face. “Radical!” he breathed, pumping a fist in the air.

The pair quickly came upon a small first-floor grocery store with large glass windows. The inside was an explosion of color, the wooden shelves well stocked by the young lady who stood behind the check-out counter. Roy seemed to know her, and he called out to her as they entered the establishment.

“Hey, Gracia! I’ve brought you a customer!”

The lady touched her hands to her cheeks, and beamed with delight. “How cute! Welcome!"

Gracia had a short, dirty blonde bob, and her large eyes were green, sort of like Ed’s mommy’s. She was wearing a different type of dress, but it was also purple, and she wore a white apron on top as well. Observing these similarities, and hearing those first words which came out of her mouth, Ed knew that she was good. He liked her. He liked her a whole lot more than Roy...

"He's on his first errand,” Roy explained. “Picked him up off of the street. He was scared like a baby, and he soiled his diapers."

Ed stomped a foot on the ground. "That's isn't true!"

"Be nice,” Gracia told Roy. “Take your time, you two, and let me know if you are in need of any assistance!"

Edward really appreciated her kindness. "Thank you, Ma’am."

Roy was offended though. "You cuss at me, but you're polite to her?"

Edward turned his nose up to Roy as he picked up a basket from next to the counter, just as he had seen his mommy do many times before. Wow, there was nothing in it yet, and it was already hard to carry around. Why didn’t they make them smaller or something?

No! He was big, and he was strong. He could do this!

“What are you getting first?” Roy asked.

Setting the basket down for a moment, Ed touched a finger to his lips and hummed softly with thought. There was so much stuff all around to choose from. Vegetables, fruits, snacks, drinks… This shop surely had the things that his mommy wanted him to buy, but it would have been helpful if he had remembered what those things were in the first place.

Roy squatted down before Edward, just as he had on the street. “What does your little brother like to eat?” he questioned.

Ed definitely knew the answer to that.

“He likes apples!” he said excitedly. “My mommy- she cooks the apples, and she adds sugar and things to the apples, and she makes apples sauce- she’s really good at that.”

“Well then let’s get some apples.”

“Okay!”

Dragging his basket behind him, Edward made his way across the small store to wooden shelves that had a wicker basket full of apples on one of its lower levels. Setting the shopping basket down again, he began to transfer over apple after apple.

Roy strolled over to him and offered up a gentle warning.

“You know, little dude, you can’t fit all of these apples into your backpack. You’re gonna have to take… three or something. To make room for the other stuff you need to get.”

Edward paused, observing the mountain of apples in his shopping basket. Roy was right. There was no way he was getting all of these apples into his backpack. Ed looked over his shoulder, and golden eyes widened as he spotted the perfect solution to his problem.

“Let’s get marshmallows instead!” he shouted.

Running to the shelves with plastic bags full of marshmallows, Edward completely forgot about his shopping basket. He scooped a bag of sugary fluff up into his small, pudgy arms.

“How does that make sense?” Roy called after him.

“Oh! And licorice! Al likes that!”

"You really shouldn't be buying candy, you know that, right? It'll rot your teeth."

Once again, Edward stomped a foot on the ground, nearly dropping his handful of packaged sweets in the process. "YOU’RE NOT MY DAD! You ugly ass fuckin' noodlehead... You're old, but you can't tell me what to do!"

"I'm nineteen," Roy deadpanned.

“And that’s old!” Ed said. That was like a kazillion years older than he was now.

“It’s not old!”

“Yeah it is!”

Roy tiredly dragged his hands down over his face. “Ugh… Is there anything else you need? Or want?”

“Al likes pie. Where’s the pie? Show me the pie!” Ed demanded.

From her spot at the check-out counter, Gracia cheerfully motioned to a spot at the back of the store. “There’s pre-made boxed pies on the shelf over there!”

Edward bent down and dropped his marshmallows and licorice on the floor before sprinting to the pie.

“What about your shit?” Roy called out to him.

“You look after it!” Ed shouted over his shoulder, his mouth watering over the boxed pies. Which one, which one... Ed settled on a particularly yummy looking one and triumphantly raised the box in the air. “I’ve got the pie! I’m done now! You carry my stuff, Roy! We’re gonna pay for it now!”

The pair went back to the counter, and Edward listened intently as Gracia opened the cash register from her spot high up above.

“Alright, that would be twenty cenz, sweetie.”

Ed took his backpack off of his back and unzipped a pocket in the front, taking out a handful of coins. Standing up on the tips of his toes and reaching a hand high up, he placed the coins on the very edge of the counter. He heard the coins jingle slightly as Gracia counted.

"Seventeen, eighteen… Did your mommy give you another two cenz?"

Ed dug into his pockets and took out two more coins. Roy held out a hand, wanting to take the money from him and give it Gracia, since the counter was so high up. But Ed refused.

“No, I can do it!"

Ed squatted down low and then launched himself upward, slamming the money down onto the counter. Gracia counted the money once again.

“That’s perfect! Thank you for coming, you two- I hope you have a wonderful day!”

Ed nodded his head. “I will! I will have a wonderful day!”

Roy put Ed’s itty bitty-backpack back over his shoulders and then transferred the food from the counter into the main pouch. With the satisfactory zip which followed, Ed knew that his quest had been a roaring success.

Roy extended a hand out for a high five, which Edward gladly accepted.

“Look at that, Ed, you did it! Now you know where you live, right?”

“My mom and my brother and me are staying at the house next to Hudson Park. The one with the really cool playground.”

Roy smiled and nodded a head to the door of the shop. “I actually know where that is. Let’s go.”

Hand in hand, Roy and Ed headed back out onto the busy Central City street. The author didn’t care to provide much information at all concerning their return, as she was getting rather tired of the story, and wanted to wrap it up as quickly as possible. Soon enough, Edward was standing upon the sunny stoop where his journey had begun.

“And no one will tell me,” Ed said back to Roy. “No one tells me anything. Do you know, Roy? Do you know how babies are made?”

Roy’s face had been looking red for quite a long time, and continued to be red as he motioned to the closed front door of the apartment. “This is where you live, right? Knock on the door or something!”

Ed banged a first loudly on the door and then pressed the doorbell beside it several times, a buzzing heard from within the building. He looked back at Roy, explaining as he continued to press the button. “The doorbell doesn’t work all the time, so you need to press it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again-”

“Eddie!” a voice called out.

Roy groaned with relief. “Thank god…”

The door was opened by none other than Edward’s mommy. She went down to her knees and opened her arms, giving Edward the warmest, biggest, best hug in all the world. She kissed the top of Ed’s head before letting him go, her attention turning to Roy.

“And who is this?” she questioned.

“That’s Roy,” Ed explained. “He helped me get to the store, and cross the street, and he helped me get home.”

“Thank you for looking after my son,” Trisha said with a smile. “I see you’re a military man- I hope it wasn’t too much of a hassle.”

Roy quickly put an arm over his waist and bowed his head respectfully. “Oh no, it was no trouble at all, Ma’am. I’m studying at the academy, but had a few days off to visit home. It’s wonderful to be able to come back and help children and mothers in need.”

Ed knew this old man was no good. He ran back up to Roy and roughly pushed his leg. “Shove off and leave my mommy alone, you doo-doo head!”

“Edward!” Trisha called out in shock. “That’s no way to thank this nice young man! Go inside and sit in the time out chair.”

With a scowl, Ed walked through the front door and dropped his backpack onto the floor. Instead of going to the time out chair like he was supposed to, he ran a short ways down the hall and made a sharp left into the kitchen. Using a stool, he climbed up onto the kitchen counter and watched from the window as Roy waved a hand to his mother, and then began to walk away.

Ed quickly slid open the window. “Hey, motherfucker!”

Roy turned around, and Ed stuck out his tongue. Yeah, you take that, motherfucker. You fucking bastard...

Ed’s mother called out to him from the hallway.

“Oh Ed… you didn’t get anything I sent you out for!”


End file.
